“If you want to change the world . . . measure a person by the size of their heart.” You can tell a lot about a person by how they act and speak. It is imperative in today’s society, where just about anything goes, that we are diligent in making our actions and words matter. Not much in life comes free, but one thing that has always been and always will be free is kindness. The world may not owe us anything, but we owe it to the world to add something positive to it. The author of Make Your Bed relates many of these life lessons to his days in SEAL training. He brings to life a narrative of having the perseverance to prove the skeptics wrong. That was the lesson to learn from this chapter, and I especially appreciated what he had to offer as far as advice goes. “Proving that size didn’t matter. Proving that the color of your skin wasn’t important. Proving that money didn’t make you better. Proving that determination and grit were always more important than talent.” Although these were the lessons that applied in SEAL training for Admiral McRaven, I can see how each of these can be carried over into everyday life. There is more to a person than what is seen on the outside. There is always more to the story than what is being told. We must look beyond what our eyes show us and see with our hearts. I hope for the day when our eyes stop deceiving our hearts and let actions speak before words. “If you want to change the world . . . get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.” Maybe an unlikely pairing of perspectives to include in an inclusive idea, but just hear me out. In theory, sugar cookies are fragile and delicate, so they break easily. They are a tried and true favorite of mine, and I look at sugar cookies differently now after reading the reasoning behind this concept from the Admiral. Life happens, and sometimes it hurts. It is not always fair or easy. We get bruised and broken along the way, but we have a choice to make. We can be sad about falling in the valleys of life, or we can return being stronger. Although Admiral McRaven was not talking about edible sugar cookies, instead he meant a training tactic that involved a face full of sand and rigorous maneuvers, it made me think about the stamina it takes to overcome the obstacles we face. We may not always like the situations we are thrown into, but we get the chance to learn from them and gain a new appreciation of what we have in life. Learn to be strong under pressure. Grow from the mistakes that occurred. Respect the process of becoming yourself. Genuine actions paired with the outlook to be a tough cookie instead of a sugar cookie will have us making strides in life. Everything we do should be meaningful to us, and even if something is hard or not as enjoyable as we would like, it should not stop us from being wholly invested in whatever it may be. Adopting this new mindset may have us reevaluating our thoughts. From ‘an eye for an eye,’ I think the shift should look more like living heart by heart. Stay Curious, Kayla ©Inquisitive Perspectives 2018
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